{"id":65223,"date":"2025-07-03T16:00:42","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T14:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/?p=65223"},"modified":"2025-07-02T21:23:56","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T19:23:56","slug":"3d-printing-projects-for-advertising-030720255","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/3d-printing-projects-for-advertising-030720255\/","title":{"rendered":"3D Printing Projects for Advertising"},"content":{"rendered":"
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We all have advertisements that have made a lasting impression on us: that music that sticks in our head, that slogan that caught our attention, those characters we associate with a brand. In short, advertising can be very powerful, and companies develop strategies to ensure they are heard. One tool they can use today? Additive manufacturing<\/a>. What could be better than designing an advertising campaign in 3D? To show your message through a physical object? To leverage the advantages of 3D printing to promote a brand? Let’s take a look back at some of the advertising projects that have used 3D technologies to express themselves, from large-format billboards to TV commercials, there are some creative success stories!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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H-E-B’s 3D Printed Scene<\/h2>\n

American supermarket chain H-E-B used 3D printing as an advertising tool in an original way. On May 22 this year, far from the supermarket shelves, the brand sponsored the free outdoor concert series organized by the Long Center for the Performing Arts in Austin, Texas. As the main sponsor, H-E-B marked the event with a three-meter-long 3D-printed stage by the renowned Texas company ICON. The upper part of the stage is reminiscent of a bass drum or tambourine, with the name H-E-B emblazoned on it. In addition to the stage, the brand also supported recycling initiatives throughout the concert series.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

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View of the 3D-printed stage at a concert (Photo Credits: MYSA)<\/p><\/div>\n

The Replica of L’Occitane en Provence’s Iconic Shower Gel<\/h2>\n

Another example of how advertising is adopting new tools in its campaigns comes from French brand L’Occitane en Provence. In 2024, it installed a 4.2-meter-high replica of its iconic almond shower oil in Chelsea to celebrate the product’s 20th anniversary. Design studio Pink Sparrow, known for collaborating with numerous brands, was responsible for the design and manufacturing. For this, they used MASSIVIT’s Gel Deposition Printing (GDP) technology, in particular the Massivit 5000 printer, a machine designed to produce large-format parts without the need for supports.<\/p>\n

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The 3D-printed L’Occitane shower oil replica (Photo credits: MASSIVIT)\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n

Marketing Campaigns for Film: Angry Birds<\/h2>\n

For the advertising campaign for its Angry Birds movie, Sony Pictures came up with something special. In addition to numerous marketing partnerships with companies such as McDonald’s, Hasbro and Home Depot, the studio wanted to create something unique. The answer? 3D-printed city bus wraps! For this, the American company Carisma was called in. Its team designed structures approximately five meters long, manufactured using a Massivit 1800 3D printer. More specifically, the team printed molds used to produce plates in SAV (a type of plastic), which were then attached directly to the buses. Thanks to specific coating techniques, these plates were given a particularly striking visual appearance.<\/p>\n

3D printing made it possible to produce all the advertising in just ten days, an effort that paid off, as the campaign was a resounding success. As Moshe Gil, CEO of Carisma, explains: \u201cSony was immediately taken with the quality and scale and increased its order in the run-up to the movie. Then, they were so blown away by the attention generated around the campaign, they sought something similar fo<\/em>r\u00a0Ghostbusters.\u201d<\/p>

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Photo Credits: Signmedia<\/p><\/div>\n

McDonald’s Campaign<\/h2>\n

As Yves Geleyn, director of McDonald’s 2016 Happy Meals advertising campaign, points out, the campaign was based on one idea: to do something better. The goal was to tell a story, that of a fast-food giant always at work to offer an improved Happy Meal. In just twelve weeks, the Geleyn team produced a 60-second video, created from six sets and hundreds of 3D-printed characters. The individual figures were first modeled and then printed. To facilitate animation, the team designed separate heads and bodies for these \u201cactors.” The figures were then hand-painted.<\/p>\n

Animation is a painstaking and time-consuming process, even more so in stop-motion. But the many hours invested in each detail give the final result an authenticity that computer-assisted animation can not offer. Yves Geleyn insists: “A lot of miniature work is now done with CGI. Stop motion possesses an authenticity, a human touch, that adds so much to a story. It allows you to create something whimsical that is grounded in something authentic.<\/em>” Producing the spot in such a short space of time was only possible thanks to the use of 3D printing, which enabled the team to animate some interesting scenes.<\/p>\n